


Surprise! Wait, what!?

by LovingAlex



Series: Domestic AF [8]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Anniversary, Arthur is a sweetheart, Awkward Dates, EVERYTHING GOES WRONG, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Married Life, Nothing goes right, Poor Merlin (Merlin), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-29 21:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19838491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovingAlex/pseuds/LovingAlex
Summary: Merlin is determined to blow Arthur away for their anniversary, but everything that could go wrong, made it their personal goal to do just that.This is just not his night...





	Surprise! Wait, what!?

**Author's Note:**

> This took the longest to outline and in the end turned out to be twice as long as the other ones. Luckily, I was able to finish it before I went on vacation, so I was still able to post it despite not even being in the same state XD

It’s almost been a year since Arthur finally made up for his sad excuse of a proposal that hectic Thanksgiving day. Arthur may have beat him to the punch for the proposal, but Merlin is dead set in knocking him out of the park for their anniversary. 

He has it all planned out. 

They’ll go on their usual walk through the park, but with an added romantic flare, compliment of Merlin’s free time and determination. Then he has reservations at the fancy new restaurant in town that they’ve been wanting to go to. After that, knowing how much Arthur likes sweets but refuses to say, they’ll go to the sweets factory to make handmade sweets together. Bonus: they can make some gifts to give for the holidays that are right around the corner.

Once they’re done there, they’ll go home and Merlin will surprise Arthur with tickets to their favorite band’s concert that’s happening the next town over. A two-parter date will definitely knock Arthur’s proposals on their asses.

The night was gonna be great. 

However... Merlin’s luck had other ideas...

xXxXx

The first part of their walk is normal, no decorations no nothing. Around the next bend in the trail is where Merlin began setting them up. He keeps glancing over at Arthur in anticipation. He wants to see Arthur’s reaction as soon as it happens. He’s dying to know how the man will react.

They round the bend and Arthur’s steps slow. The trees along the straight part of the path are lightly sprinkled with fairy lights. It starts with just a few here and there at the beginning, then the trees gradually grow more full of lights the farther down the path they go. 

Merlin’s eyes are glued to the blond. The lights twinkle in the man’s eyes, leaving Merlin to gawk at the picturesque sight. Arthur turns to Merlin with a soft look.

“When did they put these here? It’s not Christmas yet,” he says innocently. The little prat knows exactly why the decorations are there. 

“Oh I don’t know, maybe they wanted to do it ahead of time this year,” Merlin huffs and turns to walk ahead. Fine, if he wants to play it that way, Merlin will just ignore the lights. Never gets any thanks for things. Why would he expect it now?

Arthur chuckles as he hurries up to walk next to Merlin again. “C’mon sour puss, I was just teasing,” he laughs, grabbing ahold of Merlin’s hand and interlocking their fingers. “How’d you manage all this?”

“I used this thing called a ladder, it helps people reach tall places.” he snarks. Instead of dignifying that comment with a reply, Arthur leans in and kisses his husband. As they kiss, something drips onto Merlin’s cheek. Confused, he pulls away. He swipes at it and it’s only water?

For a split second, he thinks maybe Arthur is crying, but has no idea why. Another drop hits his head, then one dinks the end of Arthur’s nose. Yep, definitely not crying.

That’s their only warning before a sheet of rain starts pouring down on them. The two are caught off guard and run for the gazebo that glows farther down the path. Merlin had also decorated it well, along with the second half of the trail after it. The way he set it up made it seem like the gazebo was in the middle with lights spreading out from there.

“Where’d  _ that _ come from! There wasn’t a cloud all day!” Merlin whines. His plans for a romantic walk under the stars was ruined! Not only that, but now they were all wet! Should they go change before going to dinner? No, they’ll have to wait until the rain dies down. By then they could be late if they go all the way back home and then backtrack to the restaurant. Merlin’s brain goes in a million directions trying to figure out how to deal with this sudden downpour. 

Too distracted to see the slap to the back of the head coming. 

“Ow! What was that for!”

“I said your name like five times,  _ Mer _ lin,” Arthur chastises. “We can just wait here until it dies down.”

“But I got more plans! If we wait for it to lessen up, go home and get dry clothes, and  _ then _ go, we won’t make it!”

“Then we’ll go drenched.” 

“ _ What _ !?”

“You heard me, nitwit.”

“But… are you sure? It’ll be uncomfortable to continue all wet like this…” Merlin raises his arms in a gesture showing how his sleeves drip, making him look like a drenched scarecrow. 

“You had plans. You went out of your way to get this all set up and we’re going to go through with it. I don’t care if a little rain got in the way.”

Merlin sighs, dropping his arms and letting his head fall onto Arthur’s shoulder. A breeze blew past and it sends a shiver up his back. Arthur wraps his arms around him and they stand there holding each other. The only sound is of the falling rain

xXxXx

After a while, the rain dies down and they’re able to rush back to their car. Good thing it has leather seats, at least Merlin won’t have to hear about Arthur bitching about the material getting wet. Arthur wasn’t even that car savvy, he just liked keeping them in pristine condition like the rest of his things.

Just as Merlin thought, they didn’t have enough time to go back home to change and then go back out to the restaurant. Arthur must’ve read his mind, cause he headed there without a word.

When they get there, the place is bustling with activity. No wonder it’s a good two week wait for reservations. It was quite popular due to it having just opened and Merlin was thanking his lucky stars for being able to squeeze in a reservation.

The hostess flips through the reservations, her lips tightening into a line as she hums.

“I’m sorry, but it seems that your reservation doesn’t exist. Or it may have been written over.”

This just in: Merlin’s stars aren’t the lucky kind.

He should’ve saw this coming. With how the night has been going, he  _ really _ should’ve saw this coming.

Arthur tries to haggle with the hostess, then moves onto the manager. Merlin can only stand to the side as Arthur bites the employees' heads off. He was looking forward to trying some of their dishes. Glancing over at some of the tables near them sure didn’t help his empty stomach. Was that clam chowder? It looks delicious. Or that steak. Oh, and that baked sweet potato. His stomach protests the teasing.

Sadly, they still couldn’t have dinner there that night, but Arthur did get them a rock solid reservation for a free dinner next week. He even made it a point to watch the manager put it in the logs in big inked letters and underlines just to make double sure. Even took a picture with his phone for evidence.

Sometimes Merlin forgets that Arthur is the son of a big company owner and good at getting his way. Even convincing others that it was their choice from the beginning in most instances.

Once everything is done, they leave to head over to the next thing Merlin had planned. They were a little early, but it shouldn’t change anything.

….Well… 

The  _ earliness _ didn’t change anything, but the candy factory being closed sure did. 

Merlin had thought that it’d be less crowded due to the rain. That maybe they’d get to be a little more alone than they would have if it was a busy day. They could even snack on candy while they do it since they missed dinner.

Fate was too busy being a bitch to listen to any of his hopes.

When they pull into the parking lot, it’s completely empty. Merlin’s stomach, his  _ just as empty _ stomach, drops. The emptiness is replaced by a heavy stone and a knot. 

Arthur stops in front of the veranda that shields the wide walkway and entrance. Merlin gets out and goes to the door to see what’s going on. 

There’s a paper taped to the inside of the door. It apologizes for the inconvenience and explains that there were complications with the machines, so they’d be closed for the next few days.

Closed.

_ For the next few days. _

The website didn’t mention this at all. Damn thing must be outdated.

Merlin hangs his head. He’s been looking forward to everything planned for today. Yet here he is, standing in front of a closed factory, soaked, hungry, and upset. The only thing keeping him going at this point is the fact that he has one last surprise waiting at home. 

At least there’s no way the last one can be ruined. There’s no reservations to be lost, no weather to affect it, and no damn malfunctioning machines to keep them away from it.

He’ll give Arthur the tickets when they get home and Arthur’s smile will make up for the rest of their misgivings throughout the day. It’ll be great. Merlin is putting his foot down, this  _ is _ going to work. Fuck the weatherman’s forecast, fuck the people who lost his reservation, and fuck the damn machinists for not keeping the factory in shape. He will make this day great if it’s the last thing he does!

xXxXx

When the two arrive home, Merlin rushes into their bedroom before Arthur can even take the keys out of the lock. He blinks after the man in confusion, not knowing what Merlin’s deal was.

Arthur is setting his shoes aside when Merlin comes back. 

“I know today kinda went to shit --well, it did go to complete and utter donkey doo-- but I have one more thing for you,” he says before handing the blond a small rectangular box. Arthur snorts at Merlin’s weird phrasing, observing the box that was thrust into his hands. 

It looks like it was used to hold a bracelet or something in the past, but it’s way too light to be holding jewelry at the moment. 

He opens the box and in side lies two slips of laminated cardstock advertising their favorite band. Two tickets to go see them live in concert. The address says it’s going to be held in the next town over after the holidays.

A moment passes. Arthur just stares at the tickets with an unreadable expression. Merlin is growing more and more anxious about his husband’s reaction. He keeps himself from biting his cuticles as he waits.

Out of nowhere, Arthur bursts into a laughing fit. The anxiety subsides a little. He’s laughing cause he’s happy about the tickets, right?

The blond reaches deeply into his jacket and pulls out a white envelope, then takes two, identical tickets out of it. They’re slightly damp, but undamaged. In fact, they’re even in the same  _ row _ as the ones Merlin got.

Arthur hands them over for Merlin to see them better. All the while, the man continues to laugh. Laugh like-like Merlin just told the funniest joke ever!

His hands start shaking and the words on the tickets blur. Every plan for the day has failed. The work he put into setting up their walk, the hoops he had to jump through to get the reservations, the thoughtfulness he put into each activity was thrown in the gutter. The garbage-ridden, muddy, flooding gutter. The tickets were his last hope of preserving the day and they  _ failed _ .

And now…. Now Arthur was laughing at him. 

The tear that falls down Merlin’s cheek stops Arthur in his tracks. 

“Merlin?” he asks cautiously.

“Every--Everything went to shit, and now you’re  _ laughing _ at me… I tried so hard to make today fun and great, but I failed and now you’re laughing in my face…” his voice is a little shaky as he speaks, fighting to keep more tears from falling. Add that to the list of things Merlin has failed at doing that night.

Arthur wipes some of Merlin’s tears away with his thumb. “I wasn’t laughing at  _ you _ . I was laughing because look,” He holds the four tickets next to each other for Merlin to see, “We know each other so well that not only did we get the same gifts, but out of the whole concert hall, we chose the  _ same  _ row. They’re practically right next to each other.” 

Merlin sniffles. “Yeah, that  _ is  _ kinda crazy,” he admits.

“You know what, let’s get out of these ridiculous clothes. How’s a hot shower sound? I’m freezing, I know you probably are.” WIth that, he sets the tickets down on the hall table and ushers Merlin up to their ensuite bathroom.

One of the perks and deciding factors when they bought the house was the large bathroom connected to the master bedroom. The tub was equipped with jacuzzi add ons, the sink had plenty of counter space,  _ and the shower fit both of them _ . 

All factors they used to their advantage quite frequently and in many ways. That night being one of the instances where they used them all…

The day might have been shot, but at least it ended with a good bang. Quite several, actually.

**Author's Note:**

> So… This series is definitely my most popular thing on here. If this and/or the series gets enough love in the next week, I’ll be adding smexy times to the next installment, “Lazy Days” This is timed of course, since I need enough time to add them in before it’s posting date on the 30th


End file.
